Belated Baking Day 3 and New Year's Eve!

I wanted to wear this outfit to work on Thursday, but thought it was just a little too casual. 

Cape - made by Rach
T-shirt - Target
Jeans - Buffalo from Macy's
Boots - Nine West

I went to the Antique store near our house to look for vintage patterns and of course they were closed. Maybe I'll get to go on Saturday and see if they have any fun ones. I went to the car dealership to see what the deal is with the airbag light and it was packed. I had to reschedule for Monday because I had lots of baking to do before our little New Year's party!

I actually made the Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti last but here they are listed first. These are great for the holidays and everything tastes better homemade! They are super easy to make just take a lot of time in the oven. Here's the recipe:

1 1/3 cup (1/4 lb) dried cranberries

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3 eggs

1 t vanilla

1 cup pistachios

egg wash (1 egg and 1 t water)

In a bowl, combine cranberries with enough hot water to cover. Let soak 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry.

In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, blend flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in cranberries and pistachios.

Knead dough a couple times. Half the dough. Form into a flattish log 13" x 2". Arrange 3 inches apart on a baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Bake in the middle of the oven at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Cut into 3/4" thick slices. Arrange back on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes on each side.

Enjoy with coffee!!!

I'm not sure if the next 2 cookies turned out the best. But here are the pictures for you to see.

First Cranberry Turtle Bars. Kellen doesn't think the crust is cooked the whole way through. They still taste good even though it looks like a mess. They look better in the last picture.

Next is Chocolate Mint Brownies. The green layer is Creme de Menthe and ended up being really gritty. I'm not sure what went wrong. There is a brownie layer on the bottom that you can see better in the next picture.

Here's the cookie tray we are having now while watching the football game. I'm sure Kellen and I will both be bringing cookies to work this week unless we want to be 300 pounds.

For New Year's we had a low key party at home. We invited a couple over from Kellen's work. Here's my New Year's dress. I was going to remake a vintage dress I bought at an Estate sale this summer, but didn't have time.

 My aunt got me this dress at an estate sale a couple year's ago. It's really fun for New Year's and I LOVE getting dressed up! I just wore my Uggs to be comfy.

Kellen made chicken with figs for dinner and we had cookies for dessert. We set off fireworks at midnight since it was 70 degrees here in Memphis! Then we played rock band until 4 in the morning. We are such dorks. On New Year's morning we made Panetone french toast! It was so nice to just stay home and have an easy New Year's!

Belated Baking Day 2

Thursday was the last day before a 5! day weekend that I had to work, so I wore jeans. We never get to wear jeans at work, but hardly anyone has been in the office for 2 weeks, so I thought it would be okay. And if I needed to change, they could just send me home!

 Vintage tweed jacket - Estate sale
White t-shirt - Leopard print sheet from Express from my sister
Jeans - Buffalo from Macy's
Boots - Nine West

Now I have to work on my face in pictures. I think the posing is getting better, but my face...not so much.

Alright onto the baking. I got a lot accomplished on New Year's Eve Eve. Without work the next day I could stay up late, but didn't need to! The first batch of cookies was Kourambiedes (Greek Butter Cookies). We tried to make these last week at my mom's house but didn't have the original recipe. I tried to look it up online and I guess Gourmet deleted the page from the Christmas cookies last year, so the cookies did not turn up as well as last year's originals. As soon as we got back to Memphis, I knew I had to try and make them again. Here's the recipe:

4 sticks butter (softened)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1 T orange liqueur
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds
cloves

In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter for 8 minutes. Add powdered sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time, egg yolk and liqueur. Blend in flour and almonds, 1/2 cup at a time. Form into 1 1/2 inch balls and top with cloves.

We didn't have whole cloves so I didn't put anything in at the beginning. I added ground cloves to the powdered sugar you roll them in at the end.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar.

 They are delicious and buttery! You probably won't like them if you don't like cloves though.

Next on the list were Chocolate Cookies with Gin Soaked Raisins. It might sound gross (and I don't even like gin) but they're really good! They taste like moist chocolate cookies with just a little something extra. Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup gin
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 t espresso
2 T flour
1/8 t salt
3 egg whites
1/2 t vanilla
8 oz pecans (2 1/4 cup) toasted and chopped (I didn't toast them  and it worked out fine)

Combine raisins and gin. Let stand at least 8 hours.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 baking sheets. Shake off excess flour. (I just used parchment paper)

Mix powdered sugar, cocoa, espresso, flour and salt on low speed. Add egg whites and vanilla.

Drain raisins without pressing. Add to dough with pecans. Drop 1/4 cup dough onto baking sheets 3 inches apart (I just used a small ice cream scoop). Pat down to 1/2 inch thick (this is messy).

Bake in the middle of the oven, rotating sheets half way through 15-17 minutes.

Next were gingerbread. I cooked them a little less than normal so they weren't dry but nice and moist. No time for decorating tonight, just naked gingerbreadmen!

The last cookies were Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies. These are a nice break from traditional cookies with a little tang. Here's the recipe:

Cookies:
1 1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 t salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 T grated lemon zest
1 t vanilla
colored sugars

Filling:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 T grated lemon zest
1 T lemon juice
2 T light corn syrup
1/2 stick butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt.

Beat together butter and powdered sugar until pale and fluffy. Then beat in lemon zest and vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour.

Roll a teaspoon of dough into balls and then roll in colored sugar. Place on baking sheet 3/4" apart. (Flatten a little bit, they don't rise in the oven and you want to be able to make sandwiches out of them) Bake 12-15 minutes.

Beat together filling ingredients with mixer at medium speed. Transfer to sealable bag and snip corner. Pipe onto the flat of the cookies and top with another half.

I made half red and half green and made Christmas sandwiches!

 They are nice and sour and delicious!

 Here's all the cookies so far (and decorated gingerbreadmen!).

More baking tomorrow!

Christmas Morning 2010

Guess what? I'm posting from the new computer! Heres a picture of us in our darling christmas pjs. We had such a fun time with everyone together.

Tomorrow everyone leaves and the let down begins YUK!!!!!!!!!

Is it time to party?

I love sequins and sparkly things. I guess some people wait until it's party time to wear sequins. Oh well, I wore them to work today. It's almost new years and sequins are fun. A ton of people asked me if I had a party to go to. I guess work is not a happenin place. Hardly anyone was in the office today, so I think I'll wear jeans tomorrow. Anyway, here's my party outfit:

 Sequin top was from my mom for Christmas. White skirt is tweed, I don't remember where I got it. The cardigan was from my sister for my birthday. The fur snaps off so you can replace the color!

I really like this outfit and I don't care if there's a party to go to or not. Sequins make me happy.

 Notice my crazy curly hair? I used my mom's Chi flat iron when I was in Pittsburgh and now mine are really crappy. Here they are in the trash.

 I'm buying a new Chi flat iron from Amazon tonight. My hair will look much better next week. I might try a bigger curling iron tomorrow at the gym.

Tonight I went to Beginner Spin class. It was only a half hour long and I was again reminded how out of shape I am. I will definitely be going to this class for a couple weeks/months before venturing into hour long classes. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to wake up for the early morning Circuit class again. Wish me luck with my phone. Hopefully I can do the early class, go to work and leave early. I'm thinking that really no one will be there, especially later than 2 or 3pm.

Tonight I tried on more new clothes! Workout skirts from Rach for Christmas. Here are my options for Circuit training tomorrow. Surely I can do Circuit training in a skirt right? Kellen thought no, but they have shorts underneath and I'll be the cutest one out there at 5:30am. Sorry for the awful pictures. I just got home from my first spin class. I cut out my face because I looked pretty bad.

 Outfit 1: pink tank and grey skirt from Lululemon

Outfit 2: Grey t-shirt (on sale from Dick's, no clue what brand) and pink skirt from Lululemon

I think I'm going to wear Outfit 2. I love the cute pink cupcake skirt. Well that's all for tonight. I'm going to try and make some cookies before early bedtime. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

Wow I'm out of shape

I started a new workout program today! I joined a new gym closer to the new headquarters for work. It is WAY bigger with WAY more classes than my old gym. The old gym only had 2 classes a day (if that) and some free weight and equipment, not a lot at all. The new gym has a ton of equipment, tons of classes, 3 swimming pools, and tons of tennis courts and racquetball courts. The plan is to take classes before or after (or both) work or swim. The 2 indoor pools are closed for renovations. They are redoing both of them completely which will be great. So until mid to late January I will be doing all indoor classes. But there are plenty to try so I will not get bored in the first month.

I had planned last night to go to both the morning class (Circuit Training) and then night class but Apple was working against me again. It seems every time I set my alarm on my iPhone is sets to PM without me noticing. I swear last night I checked to make sure it was AM, but alas I woke up to my husband's alarm this morning 2 hours late. At least I had already picked out my outfit for work, since I had planned on taking it in my gym bag and wearing work out clothes. Anyway, tonight's class was called Total Pump. I went after work and was super early, but wanted to make sure I found a locker and the classroom okay. I was nervous at the beginning because it looked like a class I used to take at the old gym that I didn't love and I was the only person there for awhile. Luckily five minutes until the class started about 10 other women showed up! Turns out, the class is NOTHING like the old gym's class. It was super hard! I haven't worked out in a month so I guess that might be part of it. I didn't know you lost that must 'general fitness' in just a month! After the first 10 minutes I thought I was going to pass out! That would have made a great first impression! I took a little break and got some water and somehow made it through the class! All the other women were really nice and I think I might have at least some friends to work out with! These classes are Tuesday and Thursday nights and I will definitely try it again. Hopefully they aren't the same every time, but we will see!

Sorry for the outfit pictures today. I was in a rush this morning to get to work around my normal time so forgot to take the pictures. I put my outfit back on after working out so don't pay attention to my work out no-makeup face and sweaty hair.

This sweater is from Santa (from Macy's I think). It's super comfy and warm for cold days. The black pants are from Express. Since I got new black pants for Christmas, I took these in last night on the Serger to make them skinny. I wasn't sure how they would look but I was pleasantly surprised. They look great with heels! I think I'll actually wear them a lot more than I initially thought!

 I'm trying to come up with some more fun poses. Bear with me.

Tonight after dinner (my husband made Enchiladas and black beans and corn ready when I got home from working out! How cute is that?) I started making Christmas cookies. Late I know, but we weren't home for Christmas and will be home for New Years and I LOVE Christmas cookies and red wine. Since my husband made a fabulous dinner ready when I got home, I made his favorite - Chocolate Chip Cookies first. Here they are complete:

Probably should have divided them and made smaller cookies since the recipe claims to yield 5 dozen but whatever. It was way easier to scoop out the cookies in the small ice cream scoop then roll balls, so that's what we get! I'm going to try and make a cookie a night and then round out the recipes on Friday when I'm off work!

I love a new wardrobe for Christmas!

First outfit back to work after Christmas.

I'm trying to use the delay on my camera and it's not working great.

Sorry for the blurry pictures. The leopard top and black pants were Christmas gifts from mom. I wore it with black flats. Cute and easy today.

Joined a new gym today. I'm going to go to my first class in the morning: Circuit training. Wish me luck!

O Christmas Tree

Here's our Christmas tree!

 We used colored twinkling lights. That's what Kellen likes. I guess he still has a little kid in him.

 Not great with the decorations. Definitely need to put garland or ribbon on it next year. I saw a tree the other day with a feather boa around it, that could be fun.

Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

Wedding cake! My mom got this for us in 2008 after we got married.

My mom got this for us in 2009 when we got our first house.

Big santa. I think I bought this at Macys at a Black Friday sale a long time ago.

Wedding bells. Another gift from Mom 2008.

Fishing Snowman, a tribute to Kellen's hobby.

Mercury ball. I love Mercury decorations all year round.

Here's our crazy Navity. Big party at Jesus' birth at our house.

One of my favorite decorations: the creepy snowman.

Here he is with the flash. Not so scary in the light. His eyes and the bird on his hat are creepy with the lights out.

Can you spot the two new decorations on the new bookshelves?

My mom made the candy cane in the top left. Maybe she'll post a tutorial (hint, hint). She also made the Santa in the top right. Even if she posted a tutorial I don't think I could make the Santa. He has a super cute clay face she shaped by hand!!!

Kellen's parents got us the tap that's currently on the kegerator for Christmas. It's a chalkboard. My parents got us a Yeungling tap. So when we have Yeungling (which it sounds like we are going to most of the time, Kellen is getting mad at the different beers: Blue Moon was too heavy, New Castle is a European keg so you get 2.2 gallons less than a USA keg, and on and on) we will use that tap. For now we have New Castle and it's written on the chalkboard.

I think we'll wait to take Christmas down until at least the first week in January. We'll see how long I can get Kellen to let me keep them up. This week we are making Christmas cookies! I'll try and remember and take pictures and post recipes. What's your favorite Christmas decorations? Ornaments? Cookies?

New Serger!!!!

 For my birthday and Christmas combined my parents got me a Serger! Be expecting lots more sewing to be going on in this house. My first project was a plaid skirt for Christmas. I got this fun wool at an Estate sale this summer and knew I would be making a skirt to wear on Christmas day. Our whole family wears plaid on Christmas day every year. The skirt was a simple pleated skirt.

First  I cut the waist band: 3" x 32" (waist measurement + 1" for seam allowance + 1" for comfort).

Then I cut the skirt: 27" (knee length) x 46" (waist measurement x 1.5 + 1" for seam allowance).

I gathered the skirt and created pleats to make it the same length as the waist band and SERGED them together.

The Serger is sooooo easy! I LOVE it! All the clothes I make will not fray and be so Finished! I'm so excited to sew even more!

Next I put in the zipper. I have finally found an easy and reliable way to put a zipper in. FINALLY. First I serge down both edges individually. Since the zipper is put on with the regular machine you can't go back and serge the edges later. 

First I put the left side in using an invisible zipper foot. That's normally the easy side. Then I switch to the regular zipper foot and put the right side in. Then I sew from the bottom of the zipper to the bottom of the skirt/dress using the regular zipper foot. Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

 Next I finished the skirt hem. First I serged the edge, then I used the blind hem stitch on the regular machine (supposedly the Serger can do this but I haven't had much time to try yet).

Easy pleated skirt!

After I wore the plaid skirt to work (shown in the picture above), I shortened it a little more. It ended up being a little too long to look modern. But overall an easy skirt that looks cute and is comfortable to eat Christmas cookies and drink wine!

Hooded cape

For Rach's birthday, I wanted to make her a cape. I bought wool, lining and fake fur and went to work. 

I found a free cape pattern at Burda Style:

http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/be-mine-capelet

I cut out the cape portion on the fold.

I really wanted to add a hood but couldn't find any free patterns online. I looked in the remake/Goodwill garbage bag and had a velour jacket and pants I was getting rid of anyway. The jacket had a hood! I cut the hood off the jacket and used it as a pattern. I cut out both the fabric (for the outside) and the fur (for the lining) out of the hood pattern.

Just FYI, fake fur is a mess to cut. When I was at the fabric store the worker looked like she had gorilla arms when she was finished cutting just one cut! The floor was a mess. I saved the cape as the final Birthday present I made so I only had to clean the sewing/media room floor once!

I used burberry plaid for the cape lining:

 Next I put right sides together and sewed the cape portion, leaving an opening where the hood would go. I sewed the hood pieces together at the center, then placed right sides together to form the hood with the lining attached. I folded the hood and the cape together and sewed along the inside so there were no raw edges to be seen! Here's the finished project:

How cute is that?

She will look great in Orlando this winter!